Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk in a second bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. The batter should be like pancake batter; thick enough to coat the hot dog and not too gloppy.

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat to 350°. See the note below to learn how to fry. 

Take a skewer and slide it ¾ of the way into the center of a hot dog so that most of the skewer is in the dog, but there is enough showing to hold on to. Continue until all the dogs are skewered. 

Pour some of the batter into a tall glass or paper cup. The glass (or cup) should be taller than the hot dog. 

When the oil is ready, hold one hot dog by the end of the skewer and swirl it around in the batter in the glass to coat evenly. Carefully place the dog into the hot oil. Cook until the outside of the corn dog is golden brown, using tongs to turn the dog to cook evenly, about 3 minutes.

Use tongs to remove the corn dogs to a rack set over paper toweling to cool slightly. Drizzle each corn dog with mustard and then maple syrup.

Thing to Note:

Frying is a great way to turn food into something crunchy, hot, and satisfying. But it takes a little know-how to fry with confidence. 

First, choose a container to hold the oil that works for the food. In this case, we’re going to choose a deep pot or Dutch oven on your stove top, because we’re going to lay the corn dogs into the oil.

Second, do not over-fill the container. When the food enters hot oil, the oil will bubble up and you need to have room in the pot to handle those bubbles. So only fill the pot 2 or 3 inches up the sides and never more than halfway.

Use a candy thermometer to make sure the oil is the correct temperature. This thermometer will clip to the side of the pot so you can easily see what the temperature is and check it while you cook.

Slowly place the food into the oil. For corn dogs, tip the top of the corn dog into the oil for a few seconds and then slip the whole dog into the oil. NEVER drop food into hot oil. It will splash up and burn you. Not good!

Use long tongs to turn the food around in the oil and to remove food from the oil. Make sure that you have a place to transfer the hot food to. In this case, we transfer the corn dogs to a rack set over paper toweling.

You don’t have to have a fear of frying if you follow these simple rules.